intelligence : Yes, J.Crew Is Totally Guilty of Vanity Sizing

Back in July, Racked took a look at mall brands that employ vanity sizing—that is, sell items that run big so shoppers end up with smaller, more desirable sizes.

Today, Fitbay, a social shopping network that matches users with similar body types, has shared its own vanity sizing data (and a handy infographic) with Racked. The company sourced information from 100,000 users to figure out which brands make customers size down—and up.

“There are a lot of dynamics that come into play,” explains Fitbay CEO Christian Wylonis. “People have a tendency to think of themselves as a smaller size than they are in reality, and there are certain brands that tend to increase the size of clothing so that people fit into a smaller size.”

As per the Fitbay data, brands like J.Crew, Gap, and Banana sell larger-sized clothing to women, while Express and American Eagle are the brands guilty of men’s vanity sizing. Other interesting tidbits? Seventy percent of women have to size down when shopping at Loft, while almost 40 percent of shoppers have to buy a size up at American Apparel because the clothing runs small.

“The risk associated with buying the wrong size scares people away from purchasing clothing online,” says Mylonis. “Our data looked at what sizes our users were buying and what worked best for them. Our hope is that this analysis is helpful to navigate the space and choose the right size.”